Seattle’s Rainier Brewing Company, a division of Pabst Brewing Co., outdistanced its higher-profile fellow finalists–namely Burger King, Sega and ESPN–to win the Grand Prize for its regional Remember Rainier branded content campaign at the inaugural Battle of the Brands competition on Feb. 16 in Beverly Hills. The first-ever formal collaboration between the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP), the Battle of the Brands was designed to recognize marketers and creatives for the successful use of entertainment properties in their brand marketing programs.
Team members from each project presented their finalist campaign, demonstrating how brand and entertainment had been integrated on behalf of the client. Taking a page from American Idol, a panel of judges offered their assessments after each presentation. Then an audience of national marketers and entertainment executives voted via hand-held devices for the winners in four categories. The finalist to receive the highest point tally across those categories took home the Grand Prize.
Remember Rainier topped three of the four categories: Strategy, Production Ingenuity, and Business Performance. The fourth category, Creativity, was won by Burger King for its Subservient Chicken campaign.
The two other finalists were: Sega’s Beta-7 integrated campaign, and ESPN Shorts on behalf of Sears and Miller Lite.
Presenting the Remember Rainier case study at the Battle of the Brands were Guy Seese, executive creative director for Cole & Weber/Red Cell, Seattle, and Neal Stewart, Pabst’s senior brand manager. The production company on the project was Alarming Pictures, Seattle. Remember Rainier resurrected the brand, which had been a longstanding Seattle staple, but fell upon hard times. Centerpiece of the campaign was a 30-minute TV series, Rainier Vision, featuring long lost Rainier Beer commercials, including the famous spot in which Rainier Beer is uttered in sync with the hum of a racing motorcycle’s engine. Each series episode, hosted by a couple of regular Rainier guys, was billed as being “30 mouthwatering minutes–12 ounces at a time.
Creativity category winner Subservient Chicken came out of Crispin Porter+Bogusky, Miami. Production company was The Barbarian Group, Boston.
Sega’s Beta 7 teamed agency Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, Ore., with bicoastal/international Chelsea Pictures. And ESPN Shorts’ “The Scout” for Sears, entailed collaboration between agency BrightHouse Live, Atlanta, and production house Crossroads, bicoastal and Chicago, while ESPN’s “The Squeeze” for Miller Lite teamed Ground Zero, Marina del Rey, Calif., with bicoastal Headquarters.
The Battle of the Brands panel of judges consisted of: John Costello, executive VP of merchandising and marketing for The Home Depot; Gilbert Davila, VP of multicultural marketing for the Walt Disney Co.; Geoffrey Frost, chief marketing officer of Motorola; and Katie Lacey, VP-colas and media for Pepsi-Cola North America.